Brake.



F. FAWVER.

BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED on. 7. 1913.

Patented Apr. 13, 1915.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr, 1L3, thi h,

' Application filed Uctober 7, 1913. Serial No. 793,975.

To all whom it may concern."

B it lmown that l, FRANK l'c' nwvnn, a citizen of, the, United tat/es, residing at Los Angeles, in'the. county of Los Angelesand State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements, in Brakes, of which the fotloWing is a- 'specificatien. v

This invention relates. to the general class of brakes such as are. applied to wheels of vehicles, and particularly to wheels of automobiles.

object of the. invention is to provide a brake that is practically instantaneous in its efiect when set into. braking operation.

Another object of the invention is topro- 1 .vide a. brake-actuating means of high power so as to permit absolute non-slipping of the brake when this is desired.

To this endit is a further object to provide a brake controlled by liquid or gaseous substance such as compressed air, or gas under pressure.

' lit is astill further object to provide a neat, compact and simple arrangement to carry out the principle. of this. invention.

These and other features, capabilities andadvantages-will become apparent from a de-.

tailed description of one specific embodiment of: the invention shown in the accompanying drawings. in which-...

.higu're a. plan of the. frame of an automobile-equipped with the. present im-. provement. Fig. 2 is, an. elevation, partly in section, showing the arrangement of tapping the burned gases under pressure from the cylinder. of an engine. to a reservoir provided with thm present embodiment, the view being taken on line ac -ma Fig. 1,1ooking in the direction of the arrows- Fig, 3 isan enlarged. detail in elevation showing the brake and controllin .medium. attached to a wheel, portions 0" the wheel; being broken away, the. view being taken, partly i in section, on. line mtm Fig. l; and Fig; 4

tioned: to one side ofthe chassis 2 rear-v wardly of the engine and is connectedto one of the. cylinders by the pipeconnection 5. This 4, preferably. in they upper end of: the. cylincylinder pin. 13 having its ends secured in a connection. '5 connects with the. cylinder er, as shown in. Fig. 2, and is adapted to' convey the burned gas or exhaust of the to the reselrVoirB. This exhaust is under high pressure, and thus particularly adapted to operate the brake arrangement hereinafter to be described. The pressure of this exhaust has been found to serve the best purpose when under pressure of about fifty pounds. To this end the pressure in the reservoir 3 is preferably maintained at this pressure, for which purpose a valve arrangement is provided in the pipe connection 5 between the cylinder 4 and reservoir 3. A brake to be controlled by this arrangement is preferably of the brake band type, as 6, shown in Fig. 3. This brake band 6 is supported between the annular brake drum 7 provided on the side of the wheel and the housing '8 enveloping the same to ardagainst dust and the like. To maintain the brake band from the brake drum 7 when the brake band is not in operating relation with the brake drum 7 a compression spring ar} rangement 9 is provided of the usual type, one diametrically opposite the other. The housingS has its two ends 10, 10, formed into a pivotal support having bent levers. pivoted at their angle to these ports 10, 10, and each bent lever having one of its arms 11 in slidable and pivotal relation with one of the arms of the other bent lever by means of a slot 12 formed in each of these arms respectively in which rides a journal member 1i provided at the end of a piston rod 15 having a piston head 16 which reciprocates in a casing forming the piston chamber 17. A suitable packing arrangement 18 is provided at one end of the chamber 17' surrounding the. piston rod 15. The other end of the. piston rod 15 is guided in a cylindrical PI'QJGCtlOIl 19 provided with a pivotal supcompression spring 20 to normally retain the piston head ina brake band releasing position, the bent levers'having their arms 21, 21, pivoted to the ends of the brake band 6 res ectively. These bent levers have such a relation with the ends of the brake band that when the arms 11,11, of the bent levers are moved away from the brake band they will actuate their arms 21, 21 to tighten the brake around the supporting member 7 to brake the wheel, and when the arms 11, 11

. are movingtoward the brake band they will operate to release the brake from the supporting member. To tighten this brake gas under pressure. or thev like controlled by the operator is permitted to enter the piston chamber 17 by means of the pipe connection 22 which directs the gas to operateagainst the face 23 of the. piston 16 to move the piston head in a direction away from the brake band 6.

The arrangement of conveying the gas under pressure to the piston chamber 17 is as follows: The pipe connection 24 is tapped from the reservoir 3 and led to a controlling valve 25 which is controlled by the footpedal 26, or any other suitable arrangement, such as may be provided at the steering wheel. The controlling valve 25 may be entirely opened or only partly opened according to the distance the foot pedal 26 is depressed whereby the instantaneous stopping or a gradual retardation of the vehicle is made possible. From this valve 25 a pipe connection 27 is provided which communicates with the transverse pipe connection 22. This transverse pipe connection 22 communicates with the piston chamber 17 as is already described. As shown in Fig. 1 the transverse pipe connection 22 communicates with two piston chambers 17 17, one provided for each of the wheels 28, these piston chambers 17 being identical with the one already described and operating in the same manner.

As already stated it is desirable to retain a certain pressure in the reservoir 3. For this reason a gage 29 is provided communicatlng with the reservoir 3 by means of the p1pe connection 30. The gage 29 indicates the pressure in the reservoir 3 and is preferably positioned so that the' driver of the automobile has this before him at all times. Another gage 31 is connected to the pipe connection 27 by means of theipe connect on 32., This gage 31 is pre erably positloned in the vicinity of the gage 29. Thus, when these gages indicate that a greater pressure is maintained in the reservoir 3 and conveyed to the piston chamber 17 the gas may be cut off or the pressureotherwise controlled.

The valve arrangement in the pipe connection 5, provided to control the pressure of the gas conveyed to the reservoir 3 forms an important part of the invention. As shown in Fig. 2 an initial Valve 33 is pr0- vided which is normally retained in closed position by the compression spring The cylinder 4 has a pipe communication 35 to this valve 33. The lower face of the valve 33 is provided with a erforated plate 51. Thus, when explosion ta es place 1n the cylinder to convey gas under pressure to the valve 33, this-perforated plate will act somewhat in the nature of a cushion to guard against pounding. As the explosion takes place in the cylinder 4 and the pressure rises sufiiciently to overcome the tension of the. spring .34 valve 33 is opened and the gas under pressure is conveyed through the con duit 36and into the chamber 37 through the valves 38, 38, and from the chamber 37 it is conveyed through the pipe connection 5 to the reservoir 3. The valves 38 are normally maintained in open position by means of the tension spring 39 which is mounted on the common valve stem 40 of these valves 38, 38, and contacts at its lower end with the bottom of a housing 41, screwed into the top of the chamber 37 and abuts at its upper end against the projection 42 provided at the upper end of the valve stem 40. The upper face of the projection 42 is formed to abut against the end of the pin 43 which is ad- 'justably secured in the upper end of the housing 41. By means of this adjustable pin 43 the size of the opening of the valves 38 is controlled. The chamber 37 is provided at its lower end with a partition 44 to separate it from a diaphragm chamber 45, which diaphragm chamber is provided with a diaphragm 46 to form the lower wall of a regulating compartment. The. diaphragm 46 may be made of leather, copper or any other suitable substance. The lower wall of the diaphragm chamber is a shell 47 provided with a pin 48 located centrally thereof, and projecting inward to limit the downward movement of the diaphragm 46. In the present instance, the valve stem 40 is connected to the center of this diaphragm 46, and projects through the same to form an abutment to receive the end of the pin 48 The function of this diaphragm is to close the valves 38 when the pressure being conveyed to the reservoir 3 rises above the desired point. To do this a communication is tapped into the pipe connection 24,- for instance, by means of the pipe 49, which conveys the gas from such pipe connection 24 to the regulating chamber 50 above the diaphragm 46. The valves 38 as already stated are normally raised in an i open position and while so raised, by means of the valve stem 40 maintain the diaphragm 46 in an upward bulging position. The diaphragm-is so regulated with respect to the valve stem and valves that when the pressure of the gas rises above the desired point, as for instance, fifty pounds, this gas pressure will depress the diaphragm 46 thereby lowering the valve stem 40, and thus closing the valves 38. In this manner, the valves 38 ,will be retained in their closed position until the pressure again reduces to the proper point.

' Two valves 38 are provided to permit an easy closing and opening of the valves, one tending to counter-balance, the other. Obviously, if these valves 38 were of the same size and diameter a neutral point would be present and when the valves were closed, a force exercised in the pipe communication 36 by pressure of the gas would not be able to open the valves. For this reason the upper valve or the one opening outward, is made 0.

desired to stop brake band 6 on th vided with a suitable A inward moving valve.

greater size'and diameterthan the lower-or Tofurther prevent back pressure from the reservoir 3 to the cylinder d a check valve 54 is-provided in the pipe connection 5.

he operation of the device clearly shown in the foregoing is as follows :-When it is the vehicle and tighten the e supporting member '2 the foot pedal 26 is operated topermit gas I rough the pipe connection 27 to the piston chamber 17 where it will operate tomove the piston head 16, which will move the piston rod to operate the levers. To release the brake band the valve communica-' tion is shut ofl'. The reservoir 3 is proend adapted to open when excess pressure is present, and thus to reduce the same in the usual manner.- A valve attachment 53 is provided in one end of the reservoir 3. This valve attachment is such that it may be connected to a pneumatic tire to fill the tire with o the desired quantity of compressed air. Ubviously, this valve attachment may alsobe adapted to connect with an antomobile'horn or other signaling :means tachments may e provided, by means of niaaeet safety valve 52 at one to operate the 1 same, or else a lurality of such valve atmay be utilized as a source of power or to fill pneumatic tires.-' The compressed gas in the reservoir could also be used as a source of power for operating an engine starter.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of the construction without departing from the general scope of this invention.

Having thus described my invention what claim is: 40

In combination, a brake-drum, a housing enveloping the brake-drum, a brake band between the'hous'ing and the drum, .a piston chamber attached to the housing, bent levers between the piston chamber and vpivoted at their bends to' the housing and each connected at one end to an end of the brake band, a piston in the piston chamber. extending radially with respect to the drumi and connected to the other ends of the bent E50 levers respectivel and means to supply compressed fluid to the piston chamber.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 2nd day of Uctober, 1913. I

FRANK rawvnn.

lln presence of- James R. Townsnno, GUs'rAv Drmws.

housing 

